With the December holidays upon us, and as the Covid-19 restrictions become increasingly volatile, one might struggle to entertain themselves and may turn to movies for their weekly serotonin release. I highly recommend that anyone spoilt for choice over the wide array of movie genres indulge themselves in the action movie genre for some sweet release of pent-up stress. When one thinks of action movies, titles that spring to mind include Quentin Tarantino’s brilliant war film Inglorious Basterds or SpieDeclberg’s legendary Saving Private Ryan, chock full of senseless violence and bloodshed. I do not want to sound like a curmudgeon who dislikes the exciting sequences displayed in those films, because I am a massive fan of both. However, one such film stands out from the rest, namely being 2014’s deceptive art-as-action movie John Wick.
The premise of the movie depicts how John’s wife, Helen sends him a beagle puppy as her parting gift after losing the battle to cancer. John eventually grows attached to the puppy, but after he upsets a few Russian hoodlums (led by Iosef Tarasov) by refusing to sell his vintage Ford Mustang to them, they track him down to his house, assault him and kill his dog. John proceeds to sink back into his past life as an assassin by going after Iosef, with his father, Viggo, a mafia boss, trying his best to prevent it.
One may be wondering; “How is John Wick an art-as-action movie?”. My answer would be to look at the symbolism. John Wick is drenched with it. As such, I strongly suggest that those who have seen the movies rewatch the franchise to better appreciate its deeper meanings.
Let us take the gold coins commonly seen in many of the scenes for example.
How much value do they have, anyway?
While it may have confused some audience members or had been overlooked as a mere joke, the gold coins may have been the most glaringly obvious piece of symbolism in the movie.
To seek residence at The Continental, a hotel filled with assassins, Wick trades one to the hotel receptionist, known only as Charon. Audiences may be sharp enough to pick up that Charon is in fact the name of the being in Greek mythology tasked to bring the deceased across the River Styx, with the coins clearly referencing the currency traded to him for entry into the land of the dead. This reinforces an earlier scene where Wick calls for a cleanup of twelve bodies and pays a coin for each one.
The use of colour in John Wick is very deliberate. John is usually represented in green or blue hues, representing his calmness and renewal after retiring from his life as a contract-killer, while Viggo and other characters drawing John back into the assassin life are presented in red, and characters reflecting the hope of John’s escape from his past life (his wife, Helen and her parting gift, a beagle puppy named Daisy) generally have gold colour schemes.
Good dog.
As for the interplay between John’ blue and Viggo’s red, it is further exemplified in the scene at the aptly named Red Circle.
Viggo in red emphasises the subtitles when he places Iosef in the Red Circle. Blown your mind yet?
The Red Circle is the location where Wick hunts Iosef down, and the lighting tells a key part of the story that I find intriguing. First of all, the Red Circle does not go well for John. It is Viggo’s trap, and John walked right into it. Much of the lighting in the Red circle is blue, and when John is in control, the light stays in the blue palette, while the blood from each of John’s kills represents his descent further and further into his old life.
That’s probably only tomato sauce, don’t think too much about it.
As John maintains control in the fight, Viggo’s henchmen move from environments lit with red light into those with blue light, and in their death, John sinks with their bodies further into red light.
Look at that side profile, though.
There comes a point where Iosef realises the danger he is in and runs for his life, and it can be observed that the club floor’s palette turns, you guessed it: blue.
However, the fight slowly starts slipping out of Wick’s control, he moves back into the club area, fighting the head of security. Guess what the lighting is now, though.
Pure genius, don’t you think?
John Wick is an absolute spectacle, in its own right as a “shoot em’ up” action flick, as well as in visual storytelling and effectively uses objects and colour palettes to enhance its narrative making its characters unique. It is an excellent action movie that maintains wide shifts during scenes to give the audience a solid spatial relationship to the sets, as well as utilising uncut footage that brings out the authenticity of the fights and of course, the skills of Keanu Reeves. As an art film, it brilliantly uses the tropes of action movies on sets filled with character to introduce fully fleshed out personalities reacting to their tragic fates.
“We are cursed, you and I,” Viggo proclaims to John, and John replies, “On that, we agree.”
What a stellar debut from directors Stahelski and Leitch, and what a performance from the star man, Keanu Reeves.
(All images retrieved from: Basil Iwanyk, David Leitch, Eva Longoria (Producers), & Chad Stahelski (Director). (2014). John Wick [Motion Picture]. USA: Lionsgate.)
Written by: Ryan Tan (21S73)
Edited by: Cheryl Chan (21S74) & Tan Xuanmin (21S78)
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